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ELON, N.C. – As Elon embarks upon its membership in the Colonial Athletic Association and CAA Football, we will be posting a series of profiles on all of the CAA's current members – both full and associate – in sports in which Elon competes. These profiles will be posted each Monday, Wednesday and Friday through August 8. 

Today's profile is of all-sports member College of William & Mary.

 

College of William & Mary Nickname Tribe Location Williamsburg, Va. Founded 1693 Enrollment 8,376 President W. Taylor Reveley, III Athletic Director Terry Driscoll Colors Green, Gold & Silver CAA Member Since 1983 Athletic Web Page tribeathletics.com Distance From Elon 234 miles

The College of William & Mary is the second-oldest college in America. The original plans for the College date back to 1618 — decades before Harvard — but were derailed by an "Indian uprising."

On February 8, 1693, King William III and Queen Mary II of England signed the charter for a "perpetual College of Divinity, Philosophy, Languages, and other good Arts and Sciences" to be founded in the Virginia Colony. And William & Mary was born.
 
William & Mary has been called "the Alma Mater of a Nation" because of its close ties to America's founding fathers. A 17-year-old George Washington received his surveyor's license through the College and would return as its first American chancellor. Thomas Jefferson received his undergraduate education at William & Mary, as did presidents John Tyler and James Monroe.

The College is famous for its firsts: the first U.S. institution with a Royal Charter, the first Greek-letter society (Phi Beta Kappa, founded in 1776), the first student honor code, the first college to become a university and the first law school in America.

William & Mary became a state-supported school in 1906 and went coed in 1918. In 1928, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. chose the Wren as the first building to be returned to its 18th-century appearance as part of the iconic Colonial Williamsburg restoration.
 
Each year, more than 500 Tribe student-athletes, competing on 23 Division I teams, prove that it is possible to simultaneously excel at the highest levels of athletics and academics.